Additional Parishes Added to Federal Disaster Declaration

August 16, 2016

BATON ROUGE - Gov. John Bel Edwards’ request that President Barack Obama expand the existing federal declaration for the state of Louisiana to include additional parishes has been granted. These eight additional parishes were included in Gov. Edwards' initial request for a federal disaster declaration but required additional data.

The eight newly approved parishes include:

Acadia

Ascension

East Feliciana

Iberia

Lafayette

Pointe Coupee

St. Landry

Vermilion

“I have traveled to the impacted parishes and met with families dealing with devastating loss due to this historic flood event,” said Gov. Edwards. “I am grateful that the federal government has added additional parishes to this disaster declaration. We are traveling the state with FEMA representatives who are constantly collecting data on the damage, and we will continuously update our request to add more parishes as needed. I am optimistic that more parishes will be approved as we work around the clock to ensure every resource is available to the people of Louisiana.”

Yesterday, on Aug. 15, Gov. Edwards submitted additional information for eight additional parishes to be added to the Major Disaster Declaration from the federal government. On Aug. 14, Gov. Edwards requested that President Barack Obama declare a major disaster for 21 Louisiana parishes. Four parish requests were granted in the initial declaration – East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena and Tangipahoa, the first parishes in the state struck by high water. Additional parishes will continuously be added to the declaration on a rolling basis.

The 21 initially requested parishes include:

Allen

Ascension

Avoyelles

Cameron

Calcasieu

East Baton Rouge

East Feliciana

Iberia

Iberville

Jefferson Davis

Lafayette

Livingston

Pointe Coupee

St. Helena

St. Landry

St. Martin

St. Tammany

Tangipahoa

Vermilion

Washington

West Feliciana

Since Saturday, Aug. 13, Gov. Edwards has traveled the state with officials to assess the damage, including traveling with a FEMA representative who could provide immediate feedback to the federal government.